TIFF 51: Latin American Gems, Part II – Queer Stories

by Cláudio Alves

Latin American storytelling at TIFF wasn’t just about great feats of actress-ing, as I explored in part one of this miniseries within the broader festival coverage. Another common thread found between several projects was an exploration of queerness in its many forms. From an Irish studio's attempt to honor a Dominican child’s journey of self-discovery to a French-Haitian tale of sexual liberation from the chains of Christian fundamentalism, the Toronto program had much to offer in matters of LGBTQIA+ representation. Honestly, having landed in Portugal from Canada and immediately jumped into covering Queer Lisboa for a local outlet, these ideas kept percolating in my mind, bolstered by such films as this year’s Queer Lion winner, the Brazilian provocation that is London, which I might need to find a way to write about before the fall festival season is over for good. 

Alas, tonight, let me recommend you Sharon Kleinberg’s I Am Mario, Louise Bagnall’s Julián, Gessica Généus’ Marie Madeleine, and Joaquín Ruano’s Nosotros…

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TIFF 51: Latin American Gems, Part I – Actress-y Delights

by Cláudio Alves

Fair warning, the fall festival coverage isn’t over yet – it will never be over!

I kid, I kid. We’ll conclude the TIFF odyssey next Tuesday, exactly one month after the 51st Toronto International Film Festival screened its last picture with a very silly convo between myself and Brian Rector (aka Eurocheese). Until then, I still have more reviews to drop, mostly capsules that will hopefully spark your interest in smaller films likely to be released in limited form this year or the next. So take these as friendly recommendations, reminders to pay attention when you hear that these films might be playing near you. In that spirit of sharing cinematic joys and celebrating the Davids to Hollywood’s Goliaths, I decided to give some special space to Latin American cinema, which had an incredible showing at this year’s fest, spanning fiction to non-fiction, shorts to five-and-a-half-hour epics.

For this first batch of texts, I’m shining a light on films held together, in one way or another, by sublime lead actress turns. After all, there’s nothing that The Film Experience readership loves more than great actress-ing. They are Diego Luna’s Ashes, Fernando Eimbcke’s Flies, Neto Villalobos’ Love is the Monster, and Gabriel Martins’ On Behalf of My Son…

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NYFF 64: "Once Upon a Time in Harlem," William Greaves threw a party like no other

by Cláudio Alves

Here at The Film Experience, we love to celebrate centennials, and yesterday marked a big one. On October 8th, 1926, William Greaves was born in Harlem, and would go on to become one of the most important figures in 20th-century American non-fiction filmmaking. More specifically, his legacy rests on documenting African-American life, spanning from avant-garde exercises like the Symbiopsychotaxiplasm duology to more conventional fare like his Ida B. Wells profile for the American Experience series. And though he died in 2014, Greaves’ cinema lives on in ways that defy convention. Through the efforts of his son, director David Greaves, and granddaughter, producer Liani Greaves, the great cineaste is gifting us a new film from beyond the grave. 

Indeed, he is inviting you, the viewer, to a most exclusive cocktail party at the home of the one and only Duke Ellington. It’ll be a gathering of artists and intellectuals, the living luminaries of the Harlem Renaissance of the 20s and 30s. Or it was, for this happened already, in August 1972, when said party took place and the director recorded it all. From that wealth of footage comes Once Upon a Time in Harlem, left unfinished for half a century before it was completed and premiered at Sundance earlier this year. Neon bought the rights then and will release it theatrically next week, on October 16. In the meantime, this ghostly party from a bygone era, remembering an even older day, has been doing the festival circuit, spellbinding audiences wherever it goes, including TIFF and the NYFF…

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TIFF 51: “Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney” and “Sunburn” were among the fest’s best Canadian films

by Cláudio Alves

Sometimes, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that TIFF is a Canadian film festival. It’s the biggest Canadian film festival, to be specific, and, as such, it bears the responsibility of celebrating and helping launch local talent, voices and, indeed, Canadian film. By defining Hollywood-made movies as ineligible for the International People’s Choice Award, unlike UK- and Ireland-based projects, TIFF blurs the line between itself and the American film industry, perhaps as part of its endless quest to make the fest indissociable from the start of Hollywood’s awards season. Still, it remains a landmark cultural institution of Canada and, hopefully, for Canadians before it is for LA-based studio fare.

With that in mind, let’s talk about this year’s Midnight Madness People’s Choice Award winner, Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney, a uniquely Canadian documentary fever dream by Winnipeg filmmaker Matthew Rankin. There’s also Serville Poblete’s Sunburn, a Toronto-set summery daydream that was awarded the Best Canadian Film prize…

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TIFF 51: Jury of Two, Part II

Time for another break from those TIFF and NYFF reviews. Cláudio Alves and Eurocheese have appointed themselves juries to choose the best of the Toronto fest. From Casting to Picture, let's go!

How many prizes can Eurocheese give to LA BOLA NEGRA? To quote a 22-year-old comedy classic, "the limits does not exist."

CLÁUDIO: Hello again, my friend. I guess it's time for the second round of these. Or third, if we count that gargantuan Best Actress conversation that spanned from Oscar frontrunner Julianne Moore to such underrated international thespians as Rejane Faria. And speaking of acting, why don't we start the next part of our jury-of-two journey with the category AMPAS hosted for the first time last season?

BEST CASTING 

First up, casting legend Nina Gold deserves praise for the miracles she does for Tender Loving Care and Clarissa. The former is full of small, one-scene roles that need to jump off the screen and feel as lived-in as our main quartet. Somehow, she got it right every single time, be they Leigh regulars, British theater and TV vets, or newcomers like Kaedon Skerritt. In the Nigerian Mrs. Dalloway adaptation, the main cast is more sprawling, and casting different versions of the same characters adds another layer of difficulty. Somehow, she aces it, sometimes by not insisting on superficial similarities between performers but by getting the right energy for the role at two such distinct phases of their lives that they might as well be different people altogether...

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